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Saturday, 9 November 2013

Vogue 1351: DKNY dress w/t cowl neck

It's my first time to sew a DKNY
pattern! Vogue 1351 is now one of my favourites. I've named it Donna. Yes, I've started naming my dresses since my last project.

The dress

This cowl neck dress is
absolutely gorgeous and simple. I would not say it’s easy to sew as many
reviews say. Yes there are only four pattern pieces and a few seams, but crepe
fabric is flimsy and slippery to handle and it’s hard to cut it on bias
accurately. Nevertheless, it gives an elegant drape and easy fit. It feels to so different to wear a bias cut
dress, it just clings to your skin.

The Fabric

The fashion fabric I used is “Italian
Crepe” from Spotlight. I guess it’s something similar to Crepe-de-chine. I wanted some fabric that drapes well enough to make a nice cowl neck. It’s not an easy fabric to
handle.

The lining fabric is “delux” (not deluxe) satin from Spotlight. It has a dull back which sticks well
to the crepe, and a smooth and glossy surface, which makes it so comfortable to
wear close to my skin. The satin also drapes as well as crepe.

Sewing the lining

There are many ways to sew
lining to a sleeveless dress. I first learnt this bagging methodfrom Neeno. However,
I can’t apply it on this dress as there is no centre back opening. After a bit of research, I used the rolling method.It’s
basically to stitch and understitch the whole neckline, then roll the dress in
and sew the armhole seam (as picttured below) and turn the dress out. Don’t forget to
understitch. (1) Understitching may not reach the seams close to the shoulder, use edgstitching. (2)

I love the understitch. It makes
such a difference. I also use it along the joint of the cowl and the lining.(3) & (4)

The zip

My attempt to sew the
invisible zip along the under arm side seam was a nightmare. As the fabric is
cut on bias, the fabric is easily stretched and
it ended up looking like this:I found the bad and good news
- the zip was unacceptable but I could actually put on the dress without opening
the zip. So I unpicked the zip and stitched it up. Now the side seams are much
better.

To sum up

I would not recommend this
pattern to beginners as the crepe fabric is difficult to handle and the bias
cutting is tricky. I would like to try this pattern on knit fabric although I
have never sewn knits/interlocks.

What’s next?

So many patterns but so little
time. I am excited to receive two Sewaholic patterns this week. Thanks to Indie Stitches, I don’t have to buy it from the US.

I am also making a Lekala
pattern at the moment, hopeful I can finish it this weekend.

I also want to sew a
slipcover for my couch. The measurement is done and the fabric is ready.

Looks great babe!!! Well done on sewing a bias cut pattern... I have not tackled that monster :) How awesome is understitching??? I used to be lazy and skip that step altogether, but I did it once and never looked back!!